KC-46A Block 1 upgrade adds advanced communications capabilities to further enhance the aircraft’s data connectivity and situational awareness
Boeing will enhance the KC-46A advanced communications capabilities through a Block 1 upgrade under a contract awarded by the U.S. Air Force.
Upgrades include line-of-sight and beyond-line-of-sight communications technologies with antijamming and encryption features. These capabilities will further enhance the data and communications connectivity the KC-46A provides to joint and allied forces for battlespace situational awareness.
“The KC-46A Pegasus is transforming the role of the tanker for the 21st century” said Lynn Fox, Boeing vice president and program manager, KC-46 Program. “Building on its unmatched secure communications and data integration capabilities, the KC-46 continues to evolve with the needs of the mission to provide decision superiority in the battlespace.”
The KC-46A already offers more secure communications and more data integration than any tanker, giving the crew and fleet situational awareness for real-time decision making. Boeing continues to partner with the Air Force to expand the KC-46’s ability to deliver data as well as fuel to the Joint Force. These capabilities add to the KC-46’s multirole versatility for aerial refueling and transportation, all protected by its combat-ready defensive countermeasures.
The KC-46A will continue to expand its battlespace network capabilities with Advanced Battle Management System integration. Under an additional contract from the Department of the Air Force’s Command, Control, Communications and Battle Management (C3BM) office, Boeing will conduct a capability study to analyze how to integrate new forward edge processing and command and control capabilities onto the KC-46A Pegasus tanker.
The contract would blueprint how current and future platforms at the battlespace’s edge could share critical data across all assets, warfighters and decision-makers.
“Delivering this critical information at the speed of relevance is key to providing the Joint Force with the ‘decision advantage’ so that warfighters can stay ahead of adversaries,” said Willy Andersen, vice president for Boeing Phantom Works’ Multi-Domain – Special Programs and Capabilities organization.
The contract award leverages Boeing’s multi-domain expertise to integrate the latest Command, Control, Communications and Battle Management (C3BM) capabilities on current and future platforms.
“Boeing has a long history of enabling command and control for the Air Force, and we are excited to continue our partnership to help advance ABMS closer to reality,” said Andersen. “Evolving KC-46A as a critical part of the ABMS network will extend the Air Force’s data fabric to deliver critical information as well as fuel to the fight.”
This contract supports the U.S. Department of Defense’s Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) vision, and comes after the KC-46A has been cleared for worldwide deployments. This means that the Joint Force’s tactical edge network could in the near future extend as far as the USAF’s latest tankers operate, processing battlespace data and delivering actionable information to decision-makers in near-real time no matter how far away they are.
In 2022, the U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command (AMC) approved the KC-46A for global combat operations. The KC-46A has demonstrated connectivity and situational awareness in operation that AMC leaders described as “game changing.”
Boeing builds KC-46A aircraft on the 767 production line in Everett, Wash., supported by a supplier network of about 37,000 American workers employed by more than 650 businesses throughout more than 40 U.S. states. Boeing has delivered more than 70 KC-46A tankers to the U.S. Air Force and two to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, and is on contract to deliver four KC-46A tankers to the Israel Air Force.
